Short Summary

When the industrialised nations reeled under the recent oil crisis, Bolivia--the poorest country in South America--began to look to the future with renewed confidence.

Description

When the industrialised nations reeled under the recent oil crisis, Bolivia--the poorest country in South America--began to look to the future with renewed confidence. During those recent months, there's been a major oil rush in Bolivia.

Today, partly as a result of expanded oil production, partly due to Arab sales restrictions, experts in Bolivia are forecasting that oil and natural gas will soon be the country's biggest source of export income.

Just how important the country's nil boom is can be seen from the statistics. In 1972, total oil and gas exports were worth over 41 million dollars. Last year, the figure for oil alone was expected to top 200 million dollars.

Drilling is currently underway in almost every area of the country, from the 13,000 foot (3,960 metre) high Andean plateau near La Paz to the lowland swamps near the border with Paraguay.

One of the major centres of existing production is in Santa Cruz province, where an international pipeline is used to pump oil across the Andes--conveying some 52,000 barrels a day and employing 4,600 workers.